Theater History and Mysteries
The deepest dives you can find anywhere into the history and backstory of the great musical productions. Dense content...for people who aren't. And, I’ll never miss an opportunity to pursue any mystery, bizarre coincidence, improbable event, or supernatural suggestion along the way because, in the words of Dirk Gentley, it is all connected.
You can contact me directly at theaterhistorypodcast@gmail.com
Released every other Tuesday.
Music by Jon Bruschke and Andrew Howat, arranged, performed, and recorded by Andrew Howat.
Check out the interview on Musical Theater Radio, episode 404: https://www.musicaltheatreradio.com/podcast
Theater History and Mysteries
Hadestown...and autism (Hadestown 5/8, episode 34)
Hadestown Episode 5 script – Autism
In my favorite episode of this show, I went to the Phantom of the Opera sites on Facebook and asked people what they thought about the show and why it worked for them. The follow-up question was whether they would come on to the show and speak about their experiences.
Of the responses I got, a surprising number of folks identified that they were neuroatypical. I didn’t even know that was true of them until they told me. But descriptions of hyperfocus and late-life diagnoses were, honestly, more powerful than most of the topics we have delved into on this show.
I can’t really say how much I respected those people and the stories they shared. I don’t want to present their lives like I have some master understanding of the issue, but I do think that just listening to what they had to say rounded out who they were as people and provided a whole new depth to what neurodivergence is and, importantly for this show, how it relates to theater.
This series, however, is about Hadestown, not the Phantom. The big bad isn’t a shunned creature who lurks in the shadows, but a god who rules over one-third of the universe and is in charge of hell itself. The central character isn’t a warped man living in the catacombs, it is the beautiful, naïve poet who still believes he can change the world with a song.
Imagine my delight when I found in the hallowed pages of the academic journal Studies in Musical Theater an article with the title: Hadestown’s Orpheus: The autistic hero musical theatre didn’t know it needed
I didn’t know I needed it on this podcast, but here we are!
What is the connection between autism and Hadestown? Does it play out in the actual plot? Was it part of Anais Mitchell’s rewriting of the Orpheus character as the show developed? We’ll crack the cover and leaf through the pages together on this episode of THM.